Mint

Mint- A hardy , fragrant and very useful plant to have in a bee garden (or any other garden).  Mint is also in that category of invasive plants and will make itself very comfortable and reach its fibrous roots to all corners or your garden.

At this time, I am at the beginning of the Mint Wars.  Mint has taken over one bed of my garden. Peppermint, spearmint and chocolate peppermint. 

I originally planted it in large clay pots and sunk them into the bed.  I thought this would keep it from spreading uncontrollably.  I did not know that it would reach and stretch its lovely stems and put down new roots wherever it touched the earth!  It  has crept and burrowed and filled the space to its very corners and walls.  Harvesting it has only helped a little!  My honeybees enjoying the nectar of its flowers has probably increased the fertile seed which will fall to earth starting new mint plants for the coming season!

Truthfully, this did not happen in one season.  I must admit to negligence in working my garden for the last two years, except minimally.  A back injury and a massive increase in mosquitoes have made things more difficult for me.  But I am back and hopefully stronger and smarter.  I am ready to do war against the mint! 

I realized that I would have to dig out and sift all of the soil in this bed and so I have begun.  I have a large screen- a wooden frame with a hardware cloth screen.  This is set over my wheelbarrow.  I dig up a narrow strip about 10 inches deep at a time and gently rub the soil against the screen, sending the good earth through and leaving all of the roots and rocks (and other surprises) behind.  When I have filled the wheelbarrow with soil and my trash bag with roots (I do not put perennial roots into my compost-you can guess why!) I dump the soil carefully back into its bed. 

I am taking some of the mint to replant into its original pots but will not reset them into the bed.  Instead there will be large, beautiful containers of mint alongside my garden attracting my honeybees this coming season. There will  be fragrant and delicious mint teas to sip while sitting and enjoying my Bee Garden.